Pool Re investing into research on systemic risks

Pool Re will be one of the investors in a new research consortium aimed at protecting society from future systemic risks.

The consortium, which will be led by the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, along with the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School will “support the creation and extension of private-public market institutions and develop new risk transfer products and advisory services.”

Listed among the areas that the research will support are extending coverage terms in traditional lines, new insurance indemnifications or risk products, structured parametric bonds, corporate pools, and bi-party swaps. Topics will include pandemics, cyber threats, geopolitical change, financial crisis, and climate change.

Julian Enoizi, chief executive officer of Pool Re and chairman of the industry consortium, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the deepest economic recession in our lifetime. Our policies, preparedness and financial responses require a significant overhaul if we are to better equip and protect society from the next major systemic risk that threatens our way of life.”

Enoizi, meanwhile, is due to step down from his position at some point soon, with the search for his successor currently underway.

Pool Re has also predicted that the threat level from terrorism is set to arise. Writing in its own Annual Review last month, Ed Butler, the company’s chief resilience officer, said: “Especially after recent events in Afghanistan, I would argue that the threat from global terrorism and extremism to the UK and West is now greater than it was pre 9/11. The threat is now more diverse, persistent, complex, and moves and evolves at a pace not seen before. I strongly believe that in order to prepare for, and become more resilient to terrorism, all sectors of society need to think differently, act differently, and respond differently to the threats facing us today and for the foreseeable future.”

This linking up with the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies and the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School is not Pool Re’s only foray into this area. A similar move was announced back in November when the company said it was partnering with IFTRIP and the National Consortium for the Study and Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism to explore the impact of climate change on terrorism.